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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25465867">How to Ask</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_impatient_panda/pseuds/the_impatient_panda'>the_impatient_panda</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU, F/M, Hiccup being Hiccup, Marriage Proposal, Oneshot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:55:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,203</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25465867</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_impatient_panda/pseuds/the_impatient_panda</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hiccup's being even more...Hiccup than usual, and everyone wants to know why.</p><p>No warning, because this is actually fairly complete and fleshed out? Very much a oneshot, almost on drabble length. Enjoy!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III &amp; Toothless, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>68</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>How to Ask</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Hiccup sat silently eating his dinner as Valka settled beside him in the large dining hall, surrounded by roistering vikings enjoying their meat and mead after a hard day’s work.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Enjoying your roast?” she asked when he neglected to notice her presence.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hm? Oh, hi mom,” he said as her voice brought him back from wherever he’d been. “I’m sorry, I didn’t-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hear me, I know,” the tall woman cut in as she tossed a scrap to the young dragons wrestling under the next table. “Your mind has been somewhere else for weeks, son, and I have not been the only one to notice.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, well, it’s a personal...thing,” he muttered lamely, feeling his cheeks heat under her inquisitive stare. “I’m fine, mom, ok?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If you’re sure...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I am, alright?” Chief he might be, but the young man still swallowed hard at the look his mother shot him for his sharp tone. “I mean, I’m fine. Please stop worrying about me, alright?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll try.” Valka had the grace to only touch his cheek for a moment, given they were in public, and turned the topic to the council meeting that morning. “Did you settle the dispute about settling the islands with the new dragons?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” Hiccup said as he sat up straighter, more confident on this territory. “Berk just isn’t big enough for all the dragons we gained with Toothless being the new alpha. And keeping a few groups out on some of the nearer islands is going to help with the overload. The oldest and youngest we’ll keep here, but those able to hunt for themselves and protect their riders should be able to do well in the rougher environs.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It will also free up the sky here some,” Valka added, recalling how Cloudjumper had nearly taken out a couple of gronkles and their riders earlier, simply trying to get airborne. “Have any more of the wild ones fled?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A few,” Hiccup admitted. “It seems dragons need as much convincing that humans aren’t evil as vice versa. I can’t blame all of them. Those we took from Drogo, I’m amazed as many of them have stayed given how they were treated at human hands.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You have done your best, son, and no one could ask for more.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Did anything else happen?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Valka pretended not to notice the way Hiccup’s shoulders stiffened, or his mouth settled into a frown for a moment. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A few things,” he admitted slowly. “Mostly about usual stuff. Messages from other viking clans. Fishing and patrol schedules. Petitions for this or that. You know.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mm.” Valka indeed did know, she had been approached about one of those petitions the day before by a few of the more vocally concerned members of Berk about Hiccup’s lack of an heir and, by association, wife. His established relationship with Astrid was well known, and no one doubted that eventually if left alone the pair would make it official. However, there were those who worried that letting it go too long left too many opportunities for something to happen.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Valka had politely told those who had had the grace to merely suggest such a thing that they should trust in their chief, and had less politely informed the more insistent that they should leave the pair well enough alone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Apparently she had not been impolite enough if the deepening scowl on her son’s face was anything to go by. She left him to his mental mulling, knowing a prying mother was perhaps the last thing he wanted right now. Instead she enjoyed the freshly roasted mutton and smiled as the young dragons on the floor fought over the bones when she tossed them over the table’s edge. The little blue ridgeback with a streak of scarlet on his nose might be the biggest, but he was being pushed about by those smaller only because he didn’t want to push back. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Shy, hm?” she said as she tempted him closer with a bit of meat still on a bone. “Come here, my pretty, let me see you...” With careful and practiced hands she lifted him from the floor- </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span> she corrected herself after a quick glance between the back legs, and settled the reptilian creature in her lap. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mom, you know you shouldn’t do that,” Hiccup said as he came out of his thoughts to find the young dragon nosing towards his plate. “They’ll think they can get up on the table all the time.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, a little affection never hurt anyone,” his mother replied as she fed the wee beast out of her hand and stroked its back gently. “After all, it may be years before this one finds a rider, and until then a little spoiling shouldn’t do any harm.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s if he- </span>
  <em>
    <span>she</span>
  </em>
  <span>, sorry, finds a rider at all,” he mumbled into his palm. “I know a few of the other clan’s have expressed interest in, as they call it, ‘taming’ dragons, but I don’t feel right just handing them over without knowing they’re going to be cared for the right way.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Which is exactly as it should be,” Valka said as she set the little one loose on the floor, belly so full the bulge nearly dragged as it waddled away. “You’re more than chief of men, my son, you are an alpha of dragons as well, and that responsibility shouldn’t be taken lightly. If one of the clans is serious, perhaps they should be told they must come here to study with us. To learn how to bond a dragon first hand, and see the rewards that can be reaped from partnership instead of slavery.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s a good idea,” he replied, smiling as he watched the dragon go. “And I’d feel better about letting the dragons leave if I knew they were with someone who really cared about them.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think it will matter where they go, son, as long as you certain in whomever you are sending them. And besides, all those you send from here will have witnessed Toothless’ fight for supremacy. Dragons may not have histories as we do, but they will not forget that for many generations yet. They will not attack Berk even at the request of their new riders so long as the Nightfury is here. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-090-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But I just want to know what’s going on!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And if I knew for certain, I would tell you. But I won’t burden you with my guesses.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re his mother, can’t you </span>
  <em>
    <span>make</span>
  </em>
  <span> him tell you?” Knows this is unfair.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s a viking, lass. Stubbornness and occasional stupidity are a way of life for them.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They hear Toothless land outside, and Hiccup dismount.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Go upstairs, let me talk to him then I’ll send him up.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“In...his room?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, yes dear, that’s the only room upstairs.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But I...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I am not blind, Astrid, nor deaf. You are no stranger to that room, and we </span>
  <em>
    <span>both</span>
  </em>
  <span> know it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Astrid, red in the face, obeys.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hiccup was in no better state when he came in than when he’d left, his face set in a deep scowl. Her normally conscious son tossed his helmet on the table and began unloading his various weapon and harness pieces.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Toothless is apparently disgusted with me as well,” he said when he spotted his mother watching from the hearth. “He all but dumped me at the door and left. Left! ME! I thought he was my friend...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He probably thought the same of you before you started treating him so roughly.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>HIccup froze as though slapped. “That’s not fair.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Neither is the way you’ve been pushing people away. I’m not the only one to notice, nor is Toothless. Astrid thinks she’s done something to upset you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What? No!” Agonized look. “No, she could never...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then tell me what’s wrong, son. Let me help you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can’t.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Can’t? Can’t what?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Can’t...be dad. Be chief.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But you’re doing so well! The elders respect you, people list when you speak. The dragons have been most successfully integrated due to your help, and the young ones are being raised to be the partners of dragonkind.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, but I can’t do the one thing that matters most.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What’s that?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can’t propose to Astrid.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-090-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Astrid had been listening for awhile now to the raised voices from below. She had wanted to come down more than once, curiosity and her own nerves warring back and forth. It wasn’t until a silence like death descended that she cautiously opened the door and peered over the railing to the room below.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But...why?” Valka asked, her voice colored with sadness and confusion. “I thought...you seemed so well suited...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, she’s amazing and beautiful and smart...she’s....everything...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then...?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I just can’t tell her. I don’t know why, but I can’t make the words come out my mouth.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I watched dad propose to you a second time, mom. Court you with a song and dance routine that I couldn’t top if I tried for a hundred years, and...even though you’d been apart for almost 20 years it was like you’d never left at all. Like that time hadn’t happened at all, and he was just as much in love with you as ever. I want that. I want that so badly it’s like a physical pain. And she’s the only person I want it with, only how do you tell something that they’re the center of your world without...sounding corny. And ridiculous. And utterly, hopelessly pathetic.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Son...” Eyes drift upwards.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, mom, I’m serious here. She deserves something special, something that no one else will ever have. Something...that apparently I’m never going to be able to give her. Because every idea I’ve had is so stupid or sappy or just plain horribly idiotic, that there’s no way I’ll come up with something better at this point. You know I actually considered trying to get the dragons to spell it out in the sky for me? That’s how desperate I am! I’ve already made the rings and finished her sword, but I can’t seem to find the right words...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hiccup...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So now that you know that your son is a complete failure in the one thing that could completely make or break his career as a chief and leader of men, what is your helpful advice now mom? Are you going to just tell me it’ll all work out eventually? Or that I should just man up and say it and to Hel with the consequences. Because that’s what a </span>
  <em>
    <span>real</span>
  </em>
  <span> viking would do. Drop to one knee in the center of the square and declare in front of everyone...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hiccup!” Grabs his chin and forces him to look at her. “Well, you certainly don’t need to do it publicly, because I think you’ve said more than enough to get the point across.” Turns him by his chin to the stairs, where Astrid is standing at the bottom, eyes wide as she stares at him with what suspiciously looks like tears in her eyes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Astrid! Oh, Astrid, oh no, I am so, so sorry-” The rest is rather abruptly cut off as she tackles him to the ground in a tight hug. He makes an undignified squeak, and she rises up to punch him in the chest. “Oof! </span>
  <em>
    <span>Astrid...</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>That</span>
  </em>
  <span> is for making me worry.” Hits him again. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>That </span>
  </em>
  <span>is for being stupid.” Hits him one more time. “And </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>is for apologizing, because you only apologize for something you don’t mean, and Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third you had better have meant </span>
  <em>
    <span>every single word</span>
  </em>
  <span> or </span>
  <em>
    <span>I swear</span>
  </em>
  <span>...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I did! I mean, I do! All of it, I just-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cut off abruptly again, this time by a kiss.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then that’s for everything else.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Valka didn’t hear the rest of the conversation, because she had quickly decided her son likely wouldn’t appreciate finding her in the background in a few minutes with the way things were headed. Oh, so he thought his father was so smooth the first time around? Well, she’d have to tell him some stories later on about his first proposal, and the absolute mess it had been. The song hadn’t been theirs until years after their wedding, and even then it had taken Stoick many hours of practice with Gobber in private before he’d worked up the nerve to actually sing it to her at all. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Toothless landing beside her with an inquisitive look made the Haddock matriarch laugh quietly. “Yes, I think it’s finally been worked out. Things should return to normal fairly soon.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The look of relief on the large reptile’s face was utterly priceless, and Valka did nothing to stifle her laugh as she scratched him under his chin and pulled a smoked fish from her pouch she generally kept as a treat for Cloudjumper.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Here, I think you’ve earned this.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If his self-satisfied chirp was anything to go by, he thought so as well, and accepted the offering gladly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well now, there was a council meeting tonight, what say we drop in and spread the good news? Spring will be just around the corner, and that is usually the best time for weddings I think.”</span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
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